Helping Your People Embrace Change

“People don’t have a problem with change; they have a problem with the uncertainty it creates.”

                                                                                                                                    — Howard Teibel

Halfway through a face-to-face workshop, when people have settled into their seats, I ask the participants in the front rows to move to the back rows, those in the back rows to move to the front, and everyone in the middle to stay where they are. Talk about producing an emotional reaction over something so minor. At the same time, this teaches us something about the human condition – we look for comfort and once we’re there, we don’t want to move.

When we step back and look at the bigger picture, we see that we are living through a period of accelerating change in our personal and professional lives. The shift of managing hybrid workforces, the integration of AI, and the breakdown of norms in our political sphere, are just a few examples of continual change we are experiencing. So, how do we keep ourselves centered - physically and emotionally - knowing that the change around us is not going to slow down?

Let’s make this question of “dealing with change” more personal; imagine having to go to the doctor for a medical test. What is the most stressful period in that process? The test is the test, and the results are the results. However, it is the period in between the test and the results where our minds go to the worst possible outcome. Even if the results are not what we were hoping for, we now have a path to pursue. Is it possible to help ourselves, and others, relate to big changes in a way that empowers a productive or positive reaction, even when the change appears to be negative? How can we learn to shift our mental framework from thinking about “the bad things” to envisioning “the opportunities” we can create for ourselves and others?

Let’s explore three common reactions to change in the workplace.

Cool ambivalence. Sheila has been working at the university for the past 18 years. One morning, she arrived at work and discovered an e-mail from her dean outlining a plan to restructure the department, including several changes to management and that a consultant would help with the process. The rumors started buzzing, as staff members attempted to interpret the hidden meaning behind the announcement. Most of Sheila’s coworkers are 10 to 20 years younger than she, and they have little experience around change management in the workplace. Sheila, on the other hand, recognized this as something she had seen many times before. Over lunch, she proceeded to share her perspective with coworkers to alleviate their fears about how widespread the change would likely be, and she suggested they not worry about much actually changing as this is simply someone’s latest “great idea” that they would navigate together.

Irrational anxiety. Bob, an IT manager, is responsible for the human resources and financial systems across campus. He had been in this role for two years, having worked his way up the organizational ladder the last ten years. During a staff meeting with the head of the IT department, Bob learned that the university was looking for a new strategy to replace the constant upgrades and patches needed to keep the current systems running. A task force had been assembled to focus on exploring ways to significantly improve efficiency in IT, specifically in the areas Bob supports. Upon hearing this news, his first thoughts were that his own job would be in jeopardy. So, he proceeded to e-mail every colleague in the department detailing how bad the change would be. Within a week, half of the staff members in his department thought they were in danger of losing their jobs. Two months into this change, Bob was still talking about how bad the transformation would be, and his department remained in a state of high anxiety.

Positive purpose. Joan joined the human resources department three years ago and enthusiastically wanted to make a difference in the university’s hiring practices and processes, bringing to bear her unique perspective and success from her previous institution. After six months, Joan discovered how difficult it was to integrate new practices among her coworkers. Despite the skepticism she had encountered, including from her boss, Joan was determined to initiate positive change. Whenever someone told her why something couldn’t be done, Joan listened carefully and then offered up a different perspective, cultivating dialogue where they could explore together and build trust.

Sheila, Bob, and Joan revealed distinct reactions people have when facing change. Sheila’s tenure at the university made her resilient, but also unenthusiastic about productive change. Bob, on the other hand, was waiting for the next shoe to drop and was creating an atmosphere of anxiety among his coworkers. Meanwhile, Joan not only ignored the negativity of others, but actively offered up ideas for making positive changes for her department and the institution.

There are many reasons why we have psychological reactions when it comes to change. Different life experiences shape how we will respond. For some people, it is a perceived lack of options or a fear of losing something familiar. For others, it could be poor self-esteem or lack of confidence. Since there are many factors that contribute to how an individual reacts to change, it’s important to ask: how can we improve our own reactions to an anticipated change and help others do the same? Often, the problem is not with change itself, but with the ambiguity that change creates. Marilyn Ferguson, author of The Aquarian Conspiracy, characterized it best when she said:

“It's not so much that we're afraid of change or so in love with the old ways, but it's that place in between that we fear… It's like being between trapezes. It's Linus when his blanket is in the dryer. There's nothing to hold on to.”

Change forces us not only to recognize that we can’t rest in our comfort zone, but that we need to confront the fact that we might not be able to look forward sufficiently to see where we will land. Any change requires venturing into that liminal space and looking for some hint of light at the end of the tunnel.

Taking the Positive Approach

“I was looking for a way to help our managers and staff understand that personal responsibility for navigating change in our professional lives is a key component of a high-performing team,” said Bob Shea, currently the Vice Chancellor of Finance and Administration at UNC Greensboro.

Shea offered a program to his division focused on learning to better accept and embrace change. In reflecting on the experience, Shea noted that the people who benefited most from the workshop were those who brought a certain perspective to the experience; “The common thread among those who found it beneficial were those having an open mind and some level of optimism for the future.”

One staff member who participated in the workshop recognized that he needed to adjust how he viewed challenges. He was overwhelmed with the new learning curve of his work and didn’t think he knew enough to do his job well. The insight this person took from the program was the need to bring a positive attitude to each new challenge and to surround himself with others who shared a positive outlook. Getting on the negative bandwagon would only spread negative vibes to others, and that was an unproductive impact for organizational progress and success. “If you struggle, they struggle. If you’re comfortable, they’re comfortable. If you laugh, they laugh.” Moods are contagious.

Four Rooms, Four Views

While most of us are hard-wired to seek what is within our comfort zone (e.g., a particular seat in a room), and while some of us are able to let the ambiguity of something new roll off our shoulders, there is a common cycle we all go through in times of real change. A simple and yet powerful framework comes from the Four-Room Model of Change, developed by Swedish psychologist Claes Janssen. The principle behind the model is to be able to identify where one is emotionally in the change cycle.

Janssen’s model outlines these four stages of change: Contentment, Denial, Perplexity/Confusion, and Renewal. This model can be applied to any type of change: reorganizations, layoffs, or watching your child head off to college. Let’s use this model while we think about implementing a new hiring system at an organization.

Room 1 - Contentment (Where it starts)

Within the workplace, a very familiar example of traveling through the four rooms is evident when an institution rolls out a new technology campuswide. Before the current system shuts down and the new system goes live, most of us are in a place of contentment. Logging in, processing a transaction, and logging out is second nature—something we could do in our sleep.

Room 2 – Denial (Turning Away)

Then on a Monday morning you go into the system to process a new transaction and low and behold – everything is different. Yes, you received training on the new tool, but let’s be honest, does anyone really pay attention until they need to perform the tasks? By the time you’ve reminded yourself how to log in to the new system, you could have processed the entire transaction and gone to lunch using the old system. It doesn’t take long for a sense of frustration, anger, and desire of the old system to return. In the denial room, you longingly look back and want to forget the reality of the change. This mood starts to spread through the organization.

Room 3 – Perplexity/Confusion (The Beginning of Learning)

A natural reaction to a change such as this is to vent our frustration or blame management. Yet, at some point we must move on and “get with the program.” The sooner we recognize that no one is listening to our complaints and remind ourselves that we didn’t get to choose the new system (acceptance), the faster we can move on to the third room. At this point we’re not completely ready to let go of the past, but we start to make greater efforts to get through the change. (This is the middle ground described by Marilyn Ferguson, where we can’t bring back the past, yet we don’t see how we’re going to end up in a better place.)  The phase of Confusion is often misunderstood. At this point we are signaling ourselves to let go of our anger or frustration and begin to engage in the process of learning. Getting to this room is a key milestone in navigating change.

Room 4 - Renewal (Sense of Accomplishment)

As the confusion starts to wane and we develop greater comfort and confidence with the new system, we find ourselves admitting that maybe the new way is better than the old way. We have now entered the fourth room - renewal, where a sense of relief and satisfaction is beginning to show up.

Unlearning and Relearning

Futurist and author Alvin Toffler once stated that the illiterate of the 21st century won’t be those who can’t read and write, but those who can’t learn, unlearn, and relearn. That remains a prophetic statement for the period of accelerating change facing many higher education institutions today. Unlearning is about allowing our people to go through the full cycle of change—from contentment to renewal. Personal power resides with our ability to recognize what is in front of us and to be willing to push through our own denial and confusion to reach that light at the end.

The next time you go to a workshop, consider changing your seat after the break. You will find power in shaking up your vantage point by not waiting for someone else to tell you to move.